Alexandre Yersin Museum
Dr Alexandre Yersin (1863-1943) founded Nha Trang's Pasteur Institute in 1895. He was probably the Frenchman most loved by the Vietnamese. Born in Switzerland, he came to Vietnam in 1889 after working under Louis Pasteur in Paris. He learned to speak Vietnamese fluently, and spent the next few years travelling throughout the central highlands and recording his observations. During this period he came upon the site of what is now Dalat and recommended to the government that a hill station be established there. Yersin also introduced rubber and quinine-producing trees to Vietnam. In 1894, while in Hong Kong, he discovered the rat-borne microbe that causes bubonic plague. At his request, Dr Yersin was buried near Nha Trang. Today, the Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang coordinates vaccination and hygiene programmes for the country's southern coastal region. The institute produces vaccines and carries out medical research and testing to European standards. Physicians at the clinic here offer medical advice to around 70 patients a day. Vietnam's two other Pasteur Institutes are in HCMC and Dalat. Yersin's library and office are now an interesting Alexandre Yersin Museum . Items on display include laboratory equipment (such as his astronomical instruments), books from his library, a fascinating 3-D photo viewer and some of the thousand or so letters written to his mother! The model boat was given to him by local fishermen with whom he spent a great deal of his time. Tours of the museum are guided in French, English and Vietnamese, and a short film on Yersin's life is also shown

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 Sights to visit in Nha Trang

Yersin Museum in Nha Trang | Budda | Hon Chong | Hon Do | Khanh Hoa Museum | Long son Pagoda | Long Thanh Gallery | National Oceanographic Museum | Nha Trang Cathedral | Po Nagar in Nha Trang | Thap Ba Hot Spring Center